All In Her Head
by MayGirl85
Summary: Buffy goes to meet with Angelus when Team Angel sets him loose after Awakening. When Angelus tries to unnerve her, he finds to his dismay that you can't break whats already broken.


Disclaimer:

I own nutzing... _nutzing!_

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**All In Your Head**

_This is my first Buffy fanfic. It's just a dark little one-shot of how a Buffy/Angelus meeting could have gone when Angelus was released in Season 4 of Angel in Awakening. _

"Buffy, I'm so glad you came," Wesley greeted the tired blonde as she strode casually into the Hyperion.

She smiled wanly at him, managing as always to cover her deep depression and barely-there humanity. It was all she could do since being ripped from paradise. Deep down she was certain that no one was ever meant to be resurrected, not when the person that was brought back was a shell of themselves - a smashed mirror patched back together again reflecting only the bare remains of their former glory. And she was tired... so very tired. But nevertheless, duty called, and when duty called she duly answered. It was her cross to bear, and it was all she really had left when everything and everyone else had faded away to black with her death.

"It's no problem Wes. You know me – the dutiful slayer," she joked lightly, eliciting a few laughs from Team Angel.

"Hi, I'm Gunn," a tall, dark and handsome man greeted her, stepping forward to shake her hand with all the eagerness of a fan, "Angel's told us all about you."

"I'll bet," she murmured.

"This is uh... Fred, Lorne here is our very own interdimensional aura-reading demon while Conner here is uh... Angel's son," Wesley simpered, eminently relieved to have Buffy there to run interference with Angelus.

"Fred, Lorne, Conner," Buffy greeted them, nodding to each one of them.

"So you're the slayer?" Conner said warily, sizing up the petite blonde before him.

"So I'm told," she quipped, unwilling to deal with any teenage angst issues when she had a dozen teenage girls at home, "So where is he? I can't stay long," she said, turning back to Wesley.

Conner pouted at her subtle dismissal of him while Wesley appeared all too eager for her to begin interrogating Angelus, "He's down in the basement in a locked cage. The white line marks as far as he can reach. We also have a camera on him at all times," he said, leading her over to the reception desk where a black and white TV showed Angelus pacing his cell in a leisurely manner.

She looked down on the man she had loved with all her heart and soul with a dispassionate gaze. As if on cue he looked up and smiled at the camera, and she smiled back in the face of evil, looking forward to having an intelligent conversation with someone who was possibly as detached as she was. She laughed a little inwardly, knowing it must be a sign of her fragile grasp on sanity if she were looking forward to an encounter with Angelus. Then again, she _was_ sleeping with Spike, and she wondered which evil of hers would be the greater – enjoying a conversation with a psychotic mass-murderer or sleeping with his childe.

"I'm turning the camera off when I get down there," she announced suddenly, throwing caution to the wind.

"Buffy! I can't stress enough the importance of –"

"Wesley. I'm turning off the camera," she said with a shrug, letting him know she didn't really care for his arguments or pleading; she would do as she pleased.

She heard him mumble something unintelligible behind her and chose to ignore it. She had no time to pander to the delicate sensitivities of others. She had a job to do and she just wanted to get the information needed and get the hell out of there.

She opened the door to the basement and walked down the stone steps, her boots echoing on the floor almost in deference to her imminent arrival. Upon reaching the bottom she deliberately stood in front of the camera, smiled and gave a little wave before yanking the cord from the back. If she was going to rake her soul over the hot coals of pain, she'd rather not have an audience.

"Lover."

She turned to face him, the word rolling from his honeyed lips like a fine poison as she revelled in the sweet pain of seeing her beloved at his worst. She stepped over to the cage to look him in the eyes with the smallest of smirks on her face. Predator to predator, they studied each other for several moments, gauging their competition's weaknesses and strengths.

"You call me lover like it happened more than once," she admonished him, waggling a finger at him.

He grinned wolfishly at her, "Oh but it did," he said smoothly, deciding to play the game as she led it... for now.

She cocked her head to the side, "Really? When?"

Angelus leaned against the bars of his cage, contorting his face into a mocking expression of surprise, "Oh but Angel forgot to mention? He became human for a day... and you two went at it like _rabbits_."

Her eyebrows rose in shock before her features twisted to declare her amusement. She chuckled lightly, searching her memories to find she had dreamed of such a thing several months ago, "Ah yes. I remember now. Thought I had dreamed the whole thing. The Powers turned back time, right?" she said dismissively, her lack of reaction disappointing Angelus greatly.

He stepped back to study her, a little amused, a little disconcerted by the woman standing in front of him. He had last seen her five years ago when she was seventeen and just coming into her own as a slayer. It had been a wonderful time, she had been so ripe for the picking. Unfortunately he had been re-ensouled before he had gotten the chance to do some serious damage. Seeing her now, he realised just how much she had grown and relished the challenge to twist and break her. She had always been a worthy opponent.

He regarded her carefully as she stepped a few paces back to slump down the wall and sit with her back against the cool bricks. She rested her head back against the grey and smiled at him warmly, the gesture completely catching Angelus off-guard. He couldn't help but see that she was obviously very calm and very unafraid. It would not do.

"Miss me lover? You came all this way to see me," he goaded her, willing to learn something he could use against the girl.

She appeared to think about it, her face showing her serious consideration of his question. "No, actually, not really," she shrugged, eyeing him with a level stare.

"And yet here you are," he pushed, quickly becoming annoyed with her obvious lack of response to him.

She shrugged again, "Slayer. Duty. You know the whole shebang Angel."

"Angelus," he corrected her, cursing inwardly when she smiled. He quickly covered up his slip with a leer, "Although if you give me a night or two, heck five minutes I'll make sure you never forget," he promised lasciviously, licking his lips.

To his great surprise she threw back her head and laughed whole-heartedly before shaking her head, "I have no doubt you could Angelus. I wouldn't have expected anything less from anyone two-hundred plus years old," she admitted congenially, allowing him his sexual prowess.

He could barely contain himself as he struggled not to gape at her. _Where had Buffy the blonde barbie slayer gone?_ She wasn't acting at all like she was supposed to, and all the old buttons didn't seem to work. Nevertheless Angelus felt his hunger for the kill grow with every passing moment, relishing the extent of the challenge that lay before him. He would break her, it was only a matter of time.

"So, speaking of duty, how is the hell mouth these days?" Angelus said, going for another angle.

She seemed to age before his eyes and his demon crowed with glee at seeing her pain.

"Same old thing; a big bad wants to open the hell mouth and Buffy and gang come in to save the day. We're fighting The First at the moment. I tell you what that... er... thing is a real piece of work," she joked sadly, the toll of carrying the emotional weight of her friends bearing down on her.

"Looks like it's done a bit of a number on you, Buff. Losing your slayer touch?" he mocked, certain she was berating herself for failing in her duty to kill the unkillable thing.

Once again she laughed at him, "Yeah I suppose I have. You know that The First can take on the form of anyone that's died? It's wicked weird to see yourself running around Sunnydale," she mused, "Not to mention all the kids from my school I've slayed. I think I killed almost an entire football team over the last few years you know. We just need a running starter and the Scoobies and I could have our very own grid-iron jerseys. What do you think? Yellow or blue for the football uniforms?" she grinned, her eyes sparkling with wit.

Angelus just stared at her with a hard glare, his annoyance rising. She was barely showing a crack in that armour of hers when by now he would have had her snivelling in a corner. He was really losing his touch, he though with a measure of disgust.

"Lost anymore friends?" he snapped at her, again switching strategies. It was clear the sneaky, snake-like smooth-talking he was used to doing wasn't working.

"Um... Xander lost an eye?" she responded amicably, looking at him with wide, innocent eyes.

"They're all still alive?" Angelus couldn't help but ask, incredulous that those moronic friends of hers had survived this long.

"Yeah. I'm the only one who does the dying around here," she joked.

"Well, if you ever need a favour..." Angelus smirked evilly at her, his eyes flashing amber in malicious promise.

She nodded at him, "Can't say that I haven't been killed by a vampire before. But I'm sure you'll give my death a certain flair, don't you think?" she said, her voice even and sure.

"_What the hell is wrong with you_?" Angelus snorted, "Does the fact your precious soul-boy slept with Cordelia not rankle with you? Not to mention the indestructible beast out there intent on killing all and sundry whom you haven't mentioned once," he growled, wishing he could inflict some physical pain on the bitch who was trying his patience.

"Angel and Cordelia huh? The kid she's carrying sure as hell isn't his," she snorted back, rolling her eyes at him.

Angelus' eyes widened at her before he tossed his head back to laugh uproariously, "Cordy's pregnant? This is just _great_," he chuckled, eyeing Buffy with newfound respect, "How did you know?"

"Duh, I could smell it all over her," Buffy said dismissively before smiling a Cheshire Cat smile, "Can't you smell it? I thought vampires had an excellent sense of smell," she said, breathing deeply.

Angelus regarded her warily, seeing her delicate nostrils flare as she deliberately inhaled deeply into her lungs. As discreetly as possible, he too inhaled, wondering just when he'd lost his instincts. A thousand tiny smells assaulted him; rats in the sewer, mould in the ceiling, Coredlia's pregnancy and the distinct smell of Conner all over the child in her womb, old blood on Conner's hands (what _has_ that boy been up to?), salt leftover from tears on Fred's cheeks and finally, something all too... familiar.

His eyes shot to Buffy as he inhaled again, stepping closer to the bars to gauge the scent better. It was clearly coming from Buffy and he angrily realised it was the smell of sex. She'd been sleeping with someone else! Looking into her eyes he knew that she had deliberately baited him, and he growled deep in his throat at her audacity.

"I should kill you for that _lover_. You're mine," he hissed, pointing to her neck.

"Oh, these?" she said lightly, shifting the scarf at her neck to reveal his two puncture marks... over ridden with several _other_ bite marks from another vampire.

Angelus roared his fury, enraged that another vampire had marked his slayer. His eyes blazed with anger and resentment – she was _his_. His to toy with, his to kill and his to bite! He would kill whoever dared touch her, and punish her most assuredly for her impertinence.

"Possessive-much," Buffy grumbled good-naturedly, her eyes laughing at him.

"Who?" he demanded.

"Does it matter?" she countered with a yawn.

"_Who_?" he bit out angrily, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the bars.

"What if I say I can't remember his name?" she giggled, toying with a lock of hair as she gazed innocently up at him.

"Buffy..." he said lightly, his tone dangerous.

Her phone rang at that instant and her eyes darted to the screen, lighting up with evil glee as she glanced back to lock eyes with Angelus as she answered the phone.

"Hello?" she said, her gaze never wavering from his.

"_How are you? Is Peaches or the ponce there_?" Spike asked from his end of the line, unaware Angelus could make out the faint crackle of the conversation from where he stood.

"Oh, it's Peaches Spike. He's angry because I've been a bad, bad girl," she giggled into the phone, her cold eyes staring down Angelus in a challenge.

"_Shite Buff, you didn't tell him about us? He'll kill me_," Spike squeaked, his tone anxious.

Angelus couldn't believe what he had just heard. His own childe. _His own childe_. He breathed in deeply once more, his senses confirming that the scent of Spike was indeed all over Buffy. He stepped back in shock before his face transformed and he roared in pure rage, running toward the cage bars and smashing his hard body against them in an effort to break from his prison.

Buffy just laughed at him, "No Spike. I didn't, but you just did. Oops," she giggled, watching as the cage rattled ominously as she hung up. She sighed at Angelus, her tone annoyed, "Come on _Peaches_. It's not that big a deal. So Spike and I got a little busy. You know the saying... when the cat's away..." she shrugged, rolling her eyes at him.

"I'm going to kill you. I'm going to make you watch as all your friends die and then I'll force-feed you their entrails," Angelus growled, still shaking the bars of the cage.

"You gonna break me Peaches?" Buffy sneered, folding her arms.

"I promise," Angelus snarled at her sincerely.

She laughed at him, a high-pitched maniacal laugh, "You're really quite too late _lover_. You can't break what's already broken," she explained with a flourish. She stood up and walked to the cage, wagging a finger at him when he lunged at her from within. "You know, I find it really quite amusing that for all your bluster, you never broke me. Not even when you threatened my friends and family," Buffy mused, her index finger tapping aimlessly on her chin, "And you know what, I don't think you _could_ ever break me."

"What makes you think that?" he snapped at her.

She looked him square in the eye, "You never loved me," she said simply.

Angelus was dumbfounded for the first time in his undead life, "What?"

She smiled a sad smile, "I've fought countless demons, prevented several apocalypses and died almost as many times. And you know what? It wasn't the dying that was the problem, but the living part," she said softly, stepping closer to the cage and almost within his reach.

"Living hmm?" he purred, his tone doubtful.

She nodded at him, "Yes. Have you ever been in heaven? It's wonderful," she sighed, "So perhaps you can imagine my... um... discomfort I suppose... when I was brought back by my ever-loving, ever-considerate _friends_," she sneered, her own anger and resentment now lighting up her green eyes. She looked up at him, "Yes. You heard me. My dear, sweet friends. Have you had a friend Angelus? I don't suppose you have. Let me enlighten you – the betrayal is the most exquisite torture mankind could have invented. For years they have slowly heaped more and more responsibility upon my shoulders and criticized me when I failed their impossible expectations," she said bitterly, her eyes angry slits, "They couldn't even let me rest in peace. No, not even death will see the end of my _duties_."

"Poor, poor Buffy," Angelus said mockingly, only to see her smile at him.

"You, I can always count on to be my enemy. You'll never let me down like that. I'll tell you a secret – I wondered when I got here which of my sins was the worse, looking forward to talk to you or getting busy with your childe."

"You looked forward to talking with me?" Angelus asked, both surprised and amused.

She shrugged, "You don't lie to me. You play with the truth, but you don't lie. Don't you find that odd?" she asked him, all child-like innocence.

Angelus looked into her clear green eyes and realised in that moment she had truly become mentally unhinged. Sure, she was still standing tall and proud as a symbol against his kind, but the Buffy he had known was long gone. He wondered if that Buffy was still there, hidden deep within the recesses of her broken soul. He leant his head against the bars, somewhat saddened that he hadn't had the chance to do any damage to her himself.

"So what now?" he asked her, for once acknowledging that he was not the main player in this game.

She grinned, "I'm going to kill the Beast Master."

He raised his eyebrows, his respect for her going up a notch, "Are you now? How do you plan to do that?"

"Oh, I think Cordelia knows how I'm going to kill her, being a seer and all," she smiled, pulling a long, thin, silver knife from her jacket.

Angelus let out a low chuckle, "And then?"

"Why, your soul goes back in of course. I can't have you running around causing trouble. I really don't have the time to devote any more of my attention to you. I'm afraid today was it," she shrugged, glancing at him apologetically.

Angelus narrowed his eyes at her, "So why bother coming? Did you really miss me?" he sneered.

She giggled, "Actually no. You see, on the way here I was meaning to try and get some information out of you, but when I arrived I could sense Cordelia was smelling off a mile away. Seriously, how _did_ Angel miss that?" she wondered, going off track.

"And?" Angelus said impatiently.

"And well, I had to talk to you anyway, or at least give the appearance of talking to you. Actually, I've been tracking her movements around the hotel – if you can't tell, my slayer skills have grown quite a bit," she said proudly, "Anyway, she stole Angel's soul. I can feel him a mile away... and I could smell her deceit quite easily. It's coming off her in waves. Seriously Angelus, couldn't you even tell?" she asked him quizzically, smiling when she saw how pissed off he was becoming.

"Maybe I don't want the soul found," he growled.

"Maybe you're just good for bait now," she quipped right back, causing him to lunge for her.

She laughed gaily at him, waggling her fingers in a goodbye as she trekked up the steps to take care of Cordelia. Angelus watched her go with a grim face, wondering why it was always the females around him that screwed him over the most.

_Fin_

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